Rates of women who are opting for preventive mastectomies, such as Angeline Jolie, have increased by an estimated 50 percent in recent years, experts say. But many doctors are puzzled because the operation doesn't carry a 100 percent guarantee, it's major surgery -- and women have other options, from a once-a-day pill to careful monitoring.

Nine people remain hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome in Toronto, where almost 250 cases were recorded in two outbreaks earlier this year.

The city’s last SARS-related death was July 19.

SARS emerged in November in Guangdong province in southern China. It killed more than 800 people worldwide, most of them in Asia, before subsiding last month, according to the World Health Organization.

Toronto had the biggest outbreak outside of Asia. WHO removed the city from its list of SARS-infected areas on July 2, saying the city had contained the outbreak.

Fear of the illness caused major economic damage to the tourism industry in Toronto and southern Ontario, with hotels, airlines and restaurants reporting decreased business.